Republicans have been practicing the politics of division at least since the end of World War II, when they realized they didn't have to advance anything that benefited the American people, so long as they could get away with calling their opponents "Communists." Democrats spent decades trying to talk over the GOP's ad hominem diversions and talk about issues instead. But it got them nowhere. And it got the American people nowhere either: the Republicans who got elected as a result of all this saddled the nation with war, debt, and scandal.

It has taken a new generation of Democrats to wise up and understand that, sometimes, you can only fight fire with fire. Especially when Democrats like Bill Clinton and Barack Obama offer Republicans more than half a loaf (welfare reform, Obamacare), and the GOP sits back and demands the whole thing.

We didn't start the fire, S.E.. But we would welcome help from your side in putting it out.